The Los Angeles Sparks have partnered with Nike and the NBA for the second consecutive year in Game Growers, an initiative to empower seventh and eighth grade girls and encourage more of them to play sports.
Game Growers is an opportunity for 13-year-olds across the country to help encourage the participation, growth and love of sports. These young ladies are already playing sports, Game Growers is an effort to motivate and come up with ides to get their peers to join in as well. In just their second season of the program, thee are 38 teams participating, with the Sparks being one of them. Other participating teams include the Atlanta Dream, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz,
Teams will brainstorm and come up with ideas and plans to grow participation in their areas. It is said that by the age of 14, girls are 50-percent more likely to drop out of sports than boys. Nearly 40 percent of all girls never participate in sport accounting to a 2018 study from the Women’s Sports Foundation.
“Nike believes that girls who move, move the world. And we know that 13 is a critical age to keep girls engaged in sport so they can reap the benefits of being active,” said GM of Social & Community Impact at Nike, Caitlin Morris per release. “This is the age when girls are likely to drop out of sport, a lack of supportive coaches or access to the right product to play with confidence are two of many reasons why. Inclusive, community-based programs like Game Growers connect girls to play and sport and provide them with the opportunity to shape the future of the game for other girls, too.”
A virtual event on Oct 11 at 3:00pm ET will be held for the launch including Nike athletes as speakers to encourage the initiative. Applications for Game Growers are accepted from October 11 through December 4th at GameGrowers.com and participants will be notified by January 15 on the next steps of implementing their ideas, or Game Growers Game Plans, to encourage more girls to play sports. Final plans will be shared on the Game Growers website the Spring of 2021.
